[to3m]

Yes. 24 function keys would be a start, plus some more down the left-hand side. Maybe a 3-state numlock, whereby you could get ten more from the numpad.

But, no. It appears the way to make the keyboard more useful is not to give people more keys, nor even just to give them the same set they're used to, but to take them away, and then shuffle around the ones that are left.

Funny... you'd think that for an activity that relies on muscle memory - such as, say, typing - this would be exactly the sort of thing that people would be paying a bit more attention to not doing.

Maybe it's supposed to be some kind of vendor lock-in strategy. One of those vendor lock-in strategies that even Microsoft feels would be a step too far.